Feeding attachment for knitting-machines



' (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1,

- J. D. HEM PHILL. FEEDING ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

N0.'532,957. Patented Jan. 22, 1895.

(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheet 2.

J. D. HEMPHILL. FEEDING ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

N0. 532,957.- Patented Jan. 22, 1895.

'I'NE uonms PETERS ca, FNOTO-LITHQ. wnsnlncyon 11c.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT QFFICE.

JOSHUA D. HEMPHILL, OF HUNTINGTON, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES E. ALLING,

' OF BIRMINGHAM, CONNECTICUT.

FEEDING ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 532,957, dated January22, 1895.

Application filed Fe'brnary9,1894. Serial No. 499,647. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, JOSHUA D. HEMPHILL, of Huntington, in the county ofFairlield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inFeeding Attachments for Knitting-Machines; and I do hereby declare thefollowing, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and theletters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of thisspecification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a plan View of one form which an attachment constructed inaccordance with my invention may assume; Fig. 2, a view thereof in sideelevation; Fig. 3, a View in transverse section on the line cc-ac ofFig. 1, showing the ratchet and pawl for rotating the shaft whichcarries the feed-cams; Fig. 4, a detached plan View of the yarn-carrier,showin g the fender with which it is provided; Fig. 5, a reverse planview of the yarn-carrier; Fig. 6, a view in vertical section on the lineyy of Fig. 4, showing the fender of the yarncarrier; Fig. 7, a similarview on the line (1-1) of the same figure.

My invention relates to an improved attachment for that class ofmachines for knitting stockings in which the leg and foot of thestocking are knit from one thread, and the heel and toe of the stockingfrom another thread, usually different in color and heavier in weight,the object of my present invention being to provide a simple andreliable attachment for cutting in and cutting out the leg and foot andheel and toe threads as required.

With these ends in view, my invention consists in an attachment havingcertain details of construction and combinations of parts as will behereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

Inasmuch as machines of the character described arewell known to thoseskilled in the art, I have thought it unnecessary to either illustrateor describe the detailed construction of such a machine. I may say,however, that my improved attachment is well adapted for use inconnection with such a machine as disclosed in my application filedJanuary 31, 1893, serially numbered 460,431.

In carrying out myinvention I employ two segmental feed-cams A and A,located in parallel vertical planes, and mounted side by side but out ofperipheral alignment, upon the outer end of a horizontal shaft 13,journaled in arms 0 and O of a bracket 0 formed at the forward end of apivotalarm G which carries at its free outer endthe annular yarncarrierD, and which is constructed at its inner end with a horizontalpivot-hole 0, receiving a pin by means of which it is pivotally attachedto the machine-frame so that the carrier and attachment may be lifted upaway from the needles and let downover the same as desired. The saidcarrier is secured to the outer end of the arm so as to extend underthe'said segmental feed-cams. As herein shown, the peripheries of thesaid cams are toothed to adapt them to take hold ot the threads whichthey are designed to feed; but obviously they may be adapted to do thatwork by being roughened in any other way. Each of these cams has asshown a semicircular operating surface; but if preferred I might reducetheir surfaces in length by half, and :rotate the shaft by quarterinstead of half'turns. Directly in front of and above the said cams, Ilocate a yarn-guide E, having eyes E and E the former guiding theheel-and-toe thread a, and the latter guiding the leg-and-foot thread a.If desired, however, this arrangement may be reversed; nor doI limitmyself to making the double yarnguide as shown, for its particularconstruction is not material, so long as it is arranged to guide the twothreads in front of the said cams. Below the centers of the cams and infront of them, I locate a preferably yielding feed-plate F, the freeinner end of which extends slightly under the cams so as to be engagedby both of them, while its outer end is rigidly connected with an arm Cformed integral with the bracket 0?, and extending forward therefrom.The shaftB is provided between its bearings with aloose collar G,constructed with a flange G'- formed with an arm G which carries aspring-actuated pawl I-I, arranged to engage with a ratchet I, rigidlysecured to the shaft, and having two shoulders i 2' locateddiametrically opposite each other. The shaft is intermittently rotatedby half turns in one direction, by means of a strap J, secured to thecollar by means of a screw J, and passed forward over the collar anddown under the same, and then rearward, its opposite end being connectedwith mechanism of any approved character for intermittently drawing uponit so as to rotate the shaft.

A spiral spring K, encircling :the shaft, is: connected at one end to apin projecting from the bearing 0, and at its other end to a pin 70projecting inward from the collar G. This springis qualified in tensionto reversely rotate the collar, when the tension upon the strap isremoved, for the purpose of winding the strap upon it, and bringing thepawl into. position to be engaged with one of the shoulders of theratchet again.

The yarn-carrier D before mentioned, is annular in form, and constructedat one edge 1 with a projection D, containing an elongated 1 eyeDithrough which both of the threads at and a are passed. Upon the upperface of! the projection D and above the elongatedl eye D I locate afender, comprising a leaf '1 L, the function of which is to keep thebroken 1 end of the heel-and-toe thread from gettingbei yond the rangeof the eye D a leaf L forpreventing the leg-and-foot thread fromescaping inwardly away from the range of the said eye;} a narrow leaf Lstanding over the inner end of the said eye so as to give each threadthe; same chance thereat, but preventing them from being confounded witheachother; and a long leaf L extending forward in line with the inneredge of the eye and preventing both ends of the yarn from being carriedinward beyond the range of the same. i

The leaf L is cut away at its lower edge, as seen in Fig. 6, so that incase the endof the legand-foot thread is caught by and adheres to thelong slack of the heel-and-toe thread while the heel-and-toe are beingknitted, it may be drawn out under the said leaf L and against the outerface of the leaf L and so follow the slack of the heelsand-toe thread asthe same plays back and forth through the said fender eye. Then as theheel-and-toe thread is taut when broken off, it follows that at suchtime the leg-and-foot thread will be drawn down through the fender andeye in position to be fed and caught by the needles.

I may add to the foregoing, that the elongated eye D is of a lengthsufficient to permit the stitches to catch upon the needles. When theheel-and-toe yarn is being used it shifts from one end of the eye to theother.

I may also state that the several leaves of the fender are located atthe inner end of the eye, inasmuch as the threads are always at that endwhen the change occurs. I do not limit myself, however, to making thefender in the manner described, as it may take any other form which willprevent the ends of the two threads from fouling.

Having described in detail the construction of my improved device, Iwill now proceed to setforth the mode of its operation. iVhen the leg isbeing knittedgthe two sfeed cams will occupy the positions in which theyare shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the feed-cam A beingvirtually retired to allow the le -and-foot thread to pass freely infront of it, while the feed-cam A is in position of readiness forstarting the feeding of the heeland-toe thread. Before the last courseof stitches in the legis oompleted,the tension upon the strap will betaken 013? or relieved, allowing the spiral spring K to rotate thecollar backward, and so wind the strap upon the collar, and bringthepawl into position to en-' gage with a shoulder of the ratchet. Thenwhen the strap is placed under tension and drawn back again, the pawlengages with the ratchet and turns .the shaft through-a half rotation,andso reversesthe positions of the feed-cams, the feed-cam A movingforward into position to bind the leg-audfoot thread againstthefeed-plate, sothat thesaid thread is broken by the tension placedupon itby the needles, and the feed-cam A moving downward so as to feedthe end ofthe heel-and-toe thread bound between it and the feed plate,downward through the eye in the yarn-carrier into position to be caughtbyithe needles and rearward so as to leavea free passage between itandthe plate for the said thread, which, when once caught by the needles,is drawn down bytthem andknitinto the stocking-heel. Then before thelast course of stitches in the heel has been completed, the tension istakenofi the strap to allow the spring to reverse thecollaragain, afterwhich the strapis operated to turn the shafta half rotation and restorethe partsto the positions in which they are shown in ,Figs. 1 and 2, theheel-and-toe thread being thus broken oif and the leg-and-foot threadfed in-again for knitting the foot of the stocking. The same operationsare repeated for cutting out the legand-foot thread and cutting in theheel-andtoe thread for knitting the'toe.

It will be understood, of course, that the yarn-carrier is normallylocated close to the needles, so that theends of the leg-and-foot andheel-and-toe threads are fed, s0 tospeak, at short range by my improvedattachment from a point above and close to the carrier.

I have spoken of my improved attachment as applied to machines forknitting stockings, but I not wish to be understood as limiting myselfto its use in that capacity, as it is applicable to other knittingmachines employing a plurality of threads, which are alternately cut inand cut out. I may, for instance, use it in those machines which knitstriped fabrics.

It is obvious that in carrying out my invention and in difierentapplications of it, changes from the particular construction hereinshown and described may be made, and I would therefore have itunderstood that I do not limit myself to the exact construction hereinshown and described, but hold myself at liberty to make such changes andalterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention,what

I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 1. In aknitting machine attachment for cutting in and cutting out independentthreads, the combination with two feed-cams mounted side by side, butout of peripheral alignment, on a shaft, means for guiding the twothreads in front of the respective cams, a feed-plate located close tothe periphery of the said cams which presses the threads against thesame, means for intermittently rotating the shaft to alternately bringone cam into play and retire the other, a yarn-carrier located below thecams and constructed with an eye through which the threads are passed,and a fender located upon the carrier above the said eye and arranged toprevent the ends of the threads from displacement and fouling,substantially as described. 2. In a knitting-machine attachment forcutting in and cutting out independent threads, the combination with twofeed-cams mounted side by side but out of peripheral alignment, on ashaft, means for guiding the two threads in front of the respectivecams, a feed-plate located close to the peripheries of the said camswhich press the threads against the same, a ratchet rigidly secured tothe shaft, a collar mounted loosely upon the shaft, and provided with apawl for engagement with the ratchet,

a strap connected with the collar for rotating the same and so turningthe shaft through the medium of the ratchet, and a spring encircling theshaft and connected with the collar for reversely rotating the same forre-engaging the pawl with the ratchet, substantially as described. I g

3. In aknitting machine attachment for cutting in and cutting outindependent threads, the combination with a pivotal arm, of an annularyarn-carrier secured to the free end thereof, and constructed with anextension containing an eye through which the threads are fed to theneedles, a horizontally arranged shaft mounted above the saidyarn-carrier in brackets connected with the said arm, two feed-camsmounted side by side but out of peripheral alignment, on said shaft andlocated over the eye in the yarn-carrier, means for guiding the twothreads in front of the respective cams, a yielding feed-plate locatedclose to the peripheries of the said cams which presses the threadsagainst the same, and means for intermittently rotating the shaft toalternatelybring one cam into play and retire the other, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

JOSHUA D. HEMPHILL.

Witnesses:

H. Z. WINTERS, WM. P. BACON.

